This invention relates to carriage returns for business machines. More particularly, it involves a digital circuit for selectively activating a clutch mechanism for controlling the return speed of a business machine carriage.
Various mechanisms have been employed to return the print carrier or carriage to its home position after it has finished writing on one line of a paper, card or other media. One widely used mechanism is a spring. Briefly, one end of the spring is attached to the frame of the business machine while the other end is attached to the carriage. As the carriage progresses away from its home position, it stretches the spring. When the carriage is released, the spring collapses and returns the carriage again to its home position. This spring biased carriage return mechanism is desirable because of its simplicity. However, it has its disadvantages, especially in business machines which require accurate positioning of characters on the paper or other media. The spring tends to return the carriage with such force as to slam it against the frame of the business machine. Not only does this create undesirable noise, it causes the machine to vibrate which in turn can deleteriously affect the positioning of the characters printed on the paper.
It has heretofore been suggested to reduce such noise, shock and vibration by means of various mechanical and electrical devices, or a combination of both. However, these devices have either proven to be too slow, too complex or too expensive and have not lent themselves to being readily incorporated into existing business machines.